Guest Lectures

CK Prahlad on campus On Saturday, 19th of July, CK Prahlad was on our campus. The visionary professor of University of Michigan and author of ‘Fortune at the bottom of Pyramid’ was here in Mumbai to interact with the students of our university on the theme India@75. I couldn’t attend this session due to some reasons (ok, my decisions) but I caught up with friends later on. They had found the session a bit boring as the speaker had not been able to connect with the audience on the core of the theme. When the best of the authors and speakers try to reach out to the audiences beyond a limit, there is always a risk of being self-infatuated and missing the ‘magic’. And today, when one of our professors gave an assignment to a group on the topic “CK Prahalad’s contribution to the management practices in India”, the junta laughed :) This was neither because Indians are over-critical of other successful Indians, nor because Prof. Prahalad had not contributed enough. It was just a sample of the interesting phenomenon when many a times, sound principles become reduced to management jargons… SCM Head, Cadbury On 26th of July, Mr. Saurabh Tiwari, Supply Chain Head, Cadbury India was on campus to deliver a guest lecture on the topic “Exploring the beautiful world of business – from lens of Supply Chain”. He started from setting the context in the changing times in India, and then went ahead giving the snapshots of supply chain challenges in Cadbury, the framework approach, sales and operations planning (S&OP), and the skill sets and careers in the field. Apart from all technical insights, Mr. Tiwari’s presentation skills and his connection with the young audience were commendable. The simplicity in delivery and the easiness with which he described the models were exceptional. The loads of chocolates that he brought for the students were just a sample of enthusiasm that he showed in delivering this lecture. The audience, which was dominated by freshly joined first year students, got really enlightened and were tremendously motivated by the speaker. After the lecture, the crowd waited to touch and feel him :), and I hoped he would have returned back with the feeling of a job well done… Other guest lectures: Mr. Pradeep Chechani, Supply Chain Head, RPG Spencers interacted with the students in a guest lecture on 23rd of July, under the theme of “The story of the Watermelon Seller”. This event was organised by Optumiz – the Operations Cell in coordination with IIPC. Mr. D Shivkumar - VP & MD Nokia India Limited was on campus on 31st of July for a Guest Lecture titled, "Where did the Leader learn Leadership?" Dr. Narayan Rangraj (co author of the book Logistics and Supply Chain Management – Concepts and Cases) was on campus along with Mr. Pulkit Jain, a student of M.Tech. on 7th of August. IIT Mumbai had designed a simulator for suburban section of Western railway. They demonstrated the logic, software and the constraints. This event was organised by Optumiz – the Operations Cell.

Some recent reads

Churchill on Leadership

Winston Churchill gave this world the "V" sign for victory. Prime Minister of United Kingdom during the World War II, Churchill was a self made man who made the history the way we read and repeat today. This book tries to point out leadership traits from this great political leader, as applicable to the business world. Although fighting a world war and competing in the business world are very different, both require brilliant leadership for success."

Churchill's leadership style was essentially about taking responsibility, facing bad news squarely, staying open to changing your mind in presence of new information and keeping fully informed. “Responsibility must be combined with authority” and “decisiveness depends on the person at the top” are two of his philosophies.

Though I found the book more useful for those who already have good insights into the war time history and British political system, it does describe some basics for the beginners like the difference between political and business leadership w.r.t risks. Also, we get to know and understand why Churchill's style of leadership worked at that time. And why it can still work in many forms. More information on the Book at [Rediff Books]

Ten deadly marketing sins

Philip Kotler, Professor of International marketing at Northwester University's Kellogg School of management and author of 30 books is a God in marketing. In this comparatively new book, he describes the reason why 75% of new products, services and businesses fail. That is, he discusses the 10 deadly marketing sins:

1. Your company is not sufficiently market focused and customer driven
2. Your company doesn't fully understand its target customers
3. Your company needs to better define and monitor its competitors
4. Your company has not properly managed its relationships with its stakeholders
5. Your company is not good at finding new opportunities
6. Your company's marketing planning process is deficient
7. Your company's product and service policies need tightening.
8. Your company's brand building and communication skills are weak.
9. Your company is not well organized to carry on effective and efficient marketing.
10. Your company has not made maximum use of technology.

The language and approach by the author is very interesting and we get many good insights on the theme. A necessity for anyone in marketing… More information on the Book at [Rediff Books]

The Secret

I avoided this book by Rhonda Byrne for long, since I hate anything gives impression of craving for publicity and which rides on the herd-mentality of others. Now, I read every page of this book. It is such a simple book and tells the ‘secret’ which we all practice in some way or the other – the fact that like attracts like and if we ‘think’ good, good things will come to us. So if I love others, I will also get loved. But there is a catch. If I repeat weight-loss all the time, then I will end up growing fat, since life neglects the accompanying words and will hear only ‘weight’. So, we should do ‘positive’ and not ‘avoid negative’. At Rs 550, the book sells more on our curiosity than the real stuff. But who didn’t realise: common sense is the most uncommon thing these days?

The Coward’s guide to conflict

‘The Coward’s guide to conflict’ by Tim Ursiny has a very interesting title. It claims to have “empowering solutions for those who would rather run than fight and win”. And it starts with a quote from Ken Blanchard, “If you are a coward like me when it comes to conflict, then this book would be perfect for you. I now appreciate the need for conflict, and I am getting even better dealing with it”.

But the book doesn’t deliver what it promised.

“Many times our first response to an upset individual is to quite our voice and stay calm. Does this really calm the other person down? In most cases it doesn’t have a calming impact because the person feels like you don’t understand how upsetting the situation is to him.

A better approach is to match the intensity (voice volume, rate, etc) of the conversation without verbally attacking, and then slowly soften your voice.”

This is the only take-away from this book for me; though I am not sure if I would really shout the next time :) As such the book is written in a lucid way, with lots and lots of practical examples and real life situations. But what it lacks is to prove that those many examples were worth the effort in reading them.

Good one, if you are interested in the topic, have plenty of time to read, and don’t expect miracles.

The Parampara

How times change and how roles reverse. This time, we were on the other side of the stage – we were the seniors and they were the juniors. Parampara 2008 was celebrated on 21st of July, in the same spirit as of yesteryears…

The thing that shocked me last year about Parampara was its ruthlessness. Performances / items get interrupted at the fall of a voice, seniors come on stage and hang the dancer if one move goes mediocre, audience hoots your head off if one line of the song gets linear… this is so ruthless but so our beloved Parampara…

Parampara is not about your stage and arts skills – and in real world, we hardly get a chance to ‘play’ the manager. You never get a second chance to see to a customer if you make one silly mistake. You never get a chance to renegotiate if you make one initial offer that the other side is ready to refuse. You don’t get to speak out your CV achievements when you are on the field. All that matters is – your guts and how headstrong you are – this is Parampara. The most brutal judgement! Just like the market! Anyone can perform when conditions are right – can you when the audience is NM seniors? The ultimate nirvana of a stage performer is here…

Remember – a customer can shoot you off, by signing on a competitor. And hence, seniors can hoot you down, by calling off the curtains.

This year too, there were some brilliant performances from the juniors. Sometimes, we the second year guys didn’t boost the morale by clapping, but it was not because we were nasty. There were guys, who, despite all the hooting, performed very well – that dancer and that singer with his band. I clapped for them with my hands raised – and believe me – those were the guys who will count – and will not need a change management class.

Parampara was the weirdest thing I saw when I was in first year and I cursed it. Now that I know the truth and am able to see the silver lining, I am loving it! Thank God, my one year of MBA eduction didn’t get waste! :)

Long live the Parampara!

New Hindu Rate of Growth – Same old folly

When you hate someone immensely, but can’t do anything to harm him/her, what do you do? You call one name? Giving insulting terms/names to people or things is a way through which we vent our extreme feelings. Some times, pretty innocent words become fierce, insulting and demeaning ones. For example, if you hate me for writing good things about Hindus, you can call me ‘Saffron Brigade’. Anyways, here I come to the point.

You all must have heard about the "Hindu Rate of Growth". When I first heard this from my economics professor, I raised my hand. But before I could ask something, the professor himself asked: "Why is it called ‘Hindu’ rate of growth?". And he himself answered... "Because of what we could have achieved, and what we actually managed to achieve". As if Hinduism prescribes sluggish growth rates…

For record, the so called "Hindu Rate of growth" is a term which Professor Raj Krishna from Delhi School of Economics used for around 3.5% GDP growth rate. This was the rate at which India's economy grew in the three decades (1950-1980). In those times, due to highly dominant socialist policies as championed by Nehru, it was almost a sin to be rich in India. And in order not to be rich, you have to grow slow, I guess. Anyhow, India managed to grow around 3% per year in that period and hence the professor termed it "Hindu rate of growth".

What ‘Hindu’ about it? Many authors say that the term ‘Hindu rate of growth’ had nothing to do with Hinduism. But of course many of us can think it had to, as does this Wikipedia article, by saying: “The term suggests that the low growth rate of India, a country with a high Hindu population was in a sharp contrast to high growth rates in other non-Hindu Asian countries, especially the East Asian Tigers, which were also newly independent.”

Though many economists objected the term "Hindu" and wished if we could call it "Socialist rate of growth". But it seems the term caught our fancy, and we remained chipko to it.

Internet is such a beautiful medium. You can get 180 degree views on any topic. Say X is good and you will get to know 100 reasons why what you said was incorrect. I could find one author who writes, “The Comrade Raj Krishna knew he could get away with demeaning Hindus. He is referred to as 'the famous economist Raj Krishna' although I believe he is only famous for having coined this insult. So according to the famous Raj Krishna, I take it that Pakistan's pathetic economic showing would be the 'Muslim rate of growth'? But of course, no Comrade would ever say anything that might 'hurt Muslim sentiments.” Quite a different take, I guess.

Now a days, there is a demand by industry to call 8.5% GDP growth rate as the New Hindu Rate of Growth. Though what is the New Hindu Rate of Growth is not a settled issue. Way back in 1999, a The Economist article said “The ‘Hindu Rate of Growth’ is now no longer 3 per cent but 5.6 percent.” In 2001, a Hindu article says it was 6%. And last year, a DNA article says it is 7.5-9%. Regarding this development, I see two things:

First, this figure of 8.5% is again becoming the complacent figure. Remember whenever the ministers are asked if high inflation would derail the growth path, the minister replies, "But the growth will still be around 8.5%" (Link1) (Link2) Industry leaders like Anand Mahindra have reiterated that India should not settle for any growth rate below 10%. But it seems sticking to a comfortable politically correct figure is our old habit.

Second, and the last, while demanding that 8.5% be called the New Hindu Rate of Growth, we again forgot how the term “Hindu” comes in between. Once a professor said something in amusement, and we had the term to our rote. It is not like if a daughter of old lady goes to Harvard and becomes ultra-modern but we will still call her “Rabri devi, Junior”. It is like hiding garbage by putting New garbage over it.

There is no “Hindu” rate of growth.

Indians know how to play game!

Few Indian companies have the size and the might that can give global firms a shiver. This incident gives a change.

Mahindra & Mahindra is World's third largest tractor manufacturer. The # 1 is John Deere from the US. John Deere is considered one of the flag bearers of American industrial success.

Mahindras have been selling tractors in the US, have found a niche, but still are small players. But John Deere got so worried about M&M, that it offered a $1,500 rebate to anyone who would trade in his or her Mahindra for a John Deere.

Now what do you think M&M did?

They brought out an ad, showing a pretty blonde riding a Mahindra. "Deere John," read the caption, "I have found someone new."

See, we can play it game too! :)

Reliance shuts petrol stations

Reliance Industries (RIL) has decided to close all its 1432 petrol pumps. It is because the subsidies given to the public sector oil retailing companies were making its business economically unviable. The company hasn’t sold off its stations – but is waiting for any favourable move by the government to extend the subsidies to the private players also. There are some other private players like Shell and Essar who are also fighting the losing battle.

When Reliance had entered the oil retailing business, it was the same time when I had cleared a written exam of HPCL and was to be interviewed by them. I made many visits to the petrol stations and offices in Bilaspur, to get to know the trade and issues. I also met many drivers. People preferred the oil from Reliance stores, because they were pure, when compared to the adulterated oil from the public stores. And not to be surprised that RIL got a market share of over 14% in no time. Most of its stores were running just nearby the public stores, and we could see long queues in front of them. RIL also brought in some innovations like printed receipts, latest meters and machinery, tie ups to run food courts in the campus and many more were yet to come. But, in the end, like many sectors in which public limited companies have got undue advantages, this also seems to be one another.

What makes me wonder is – is it really that Reliance made such a big mistake? The company is known for some very shrewd moves, and many of its manoeuvres have been possible because of governments’ supports. When the company decided to get into the oil retailing business, it knew very well that oil was one thing whose price needed to have a ceiling. And its demand for government subsidies is also misplaced: as government is already running petrol stations, why should it subsidies some other party which competes with its own stations? The conclusion is: let us wait and watch.

News Ref: ET

CEO Series Lecture

As part of our CEO Series lectures, last evening we had Mr. Keki Mistry, MD, HDFC on our campus. He spoke for about one and half hours on the requested topic “Roles of a CFO”.

He began with the traditional role of a CFO (Chief Financial Officer) in an Indian company, and then followed it with the changing business environment after the economic reforms of 1990s. The roles of the CFO have changed with the changing nature of industrial environment and global competition.

What I liked about his speech was perfectly balanced oratory, and that he didn’t use any fillers in his speech e.g. like, actually, I mean, what I want to say is that: I personally don’t like such fillers while speaking in public but have seen many of even the senior people take help of fillers like these. Also, almost everywhere, he went on explaining point wise, as if he had everything well prepared from before, when actually he was not. To top it all, the day was marked with the news about HDFC taking over Centurial Bank of Punjab, and when asked about it, he said: “We have neither denied not accepted the news. You will come to know about it tomorrow.” This made the audience chuckle.

According to him, Indians don’t have the ‘credit’ culture! Around 8-9% of the borrowers repay their loans to HDFC before the last date! This is in direct contrast to the credit culture that prevails in the West. While this was not a new realisation, I have always wished that we Indians remain in this way: our culture terms credit as bad thing, and that protects us from financial vulnerabilities in the long run.

Group polarisation

Group polarisation is a phenomenon relating to our tendencies to make decisions which are more ‘extreme’, when in groups, rather than when individually. It is also called ‘risky shift’ (earlier term) and ‘incestuous amplification’ (military).

After group discussions, attitudes such as racial and sexual prejudices are seen to be reduced for already low prejudiced individuals and increased for already highly prejudiced individuals.

The mechanism of group polarisation is said to be based on two phenomena: Social comparison (drive of individuals to appear socially desirable) and informational influence (individuals weighing ‘remembered’ pros and cons).

A host of people and organisations will make use of this phenomenon – from people groups, religious organisations, political parties, or even the terrorist groups.

But I wonder why group composition or peer type has no effect here? I am trying to reason this out from my own experience. If I am inclined heavily towards an issue and am discussing that within a group, if others think like me, definitely I would become more confident of myself and would go for harsher conclusions… And on the other hand, if others have predominantly opposite view from me, I would tend to get back into my shell, reinforce my arguments, and in an effort to defend my views, I will become harsher! Also, in a way, this is like negotiation, to show the other person that you have compromised from your position in order to accommodate the other person’s views; I will tend to demand more and then later pull back a little. But in effect, I have become harsher than I was before!

Another interesting aspect is that the ‘online’ or ‘virtual’ groups behave in almost the same manner except that members feel freer in sharing their views because of the associated anonymity. They will still behave in the same manner – becoming milder if they were mild and harsher if they were harshly prejudiced before the discussion. You must have observed this phenomenon among bloggers. The more the readers counter you on the comments page, the more you get reinforced in the strength of your own arguments. Very few of us are able to break this tendency and are truly receptive.

This phenomenon again raises the question: when and how much discussion we should have and on what issues? Also, this phenomenon makes us think about can we get some desired results by any manipulations: if I know that Mahesh is highly prejudiced on an issue, will I make him more or less prejudiced by involving him in a group discussion? Also, the question comes: what about rationality? Am I too bounded by such psychological theories? How can I break the clutter? From my own experiences, I understand that this phenomenon is true and real. But I would prefer not to confirm to this.

Pages referred: Wikipedia article [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Group_polarization&oldid=179775673], Sharon Bender [http://www.sharonbender.com/polarization.html]

HBS Vs Our BSchool

The title may be a bit provocative, but if you believe what the students of Harvard Business School say, we are not that different from them. Here, some comments of HBS students are presented on their academics and life (taken from PaGalGuy’s Buzz book). Also, there is a brave attempt to compare those with our life @ Our B School. Please bear with me, you will find many an eye opener: “First year, all students take the same classes in a section of 90 people. Each section spends the entire year in one classroom with professors coming to them. It may sound a little bit like elementary school, but it creates an amazing experience.” Yes, we understand what is meant by amazing; we are going through the same. “You’ll probably only hang with HBS students, a majority of whom will be from your section (90 people). Events, dating, social everything seems to revolve around HBS… Sounds a bit cultish but, by the end of the year, you’ll be fully brainwashed and happy.” OK, so we should stop complaining about our divisional divides! “Each section of 90 students creates familial bonds, and each section takes on a personality of its own.” We too are witnessing it here. “Typically, study groups form in the first week or two of first year consisting of three or four students, optimally from different sections.” We don’t have any study groups from different sections. Therefore, we are almost isolated from what is happening in other sections. “The three cases a night are divvied up so that each member just has to “crack” only one case and prepare one executive summary for the study group members; this prepares each of them for the “cold-call” where the professor comes into the classroom and randomly calls on a student to present his/her analysis.” From second trimester onwards, many of us have adopted this method. Nice to see that HBS guys also do this. “Second year gets much easier.” Yes, brothers; same here. “On average, in the first year, three out of five professors in each semester are excellent, and two out of five are more junior, and therefore more variable.” We understand your condition dudes. “As an international student, I had some reservations about class participation but it went really well. HBS is not competitive in classes! Shark comments are appropriately chastised (!) right away to make sure they won’t happen again.” Many a times, even we tried to silent the shark comments! And that too by clapping! “All classes are taught using the case method. It’s hard to understand until you’ve experienced it, but it’s a fantastic way to learn.” OK. We are a bit more inclusive to adopt best of the all worlds J “The accessibility of faculty at HBS is also fantastic. Most faculty host lunches to get to know everyone outside of the classroom.” OK, hope some faculty reads this. We all love free lunches J “Grade nondisclosure is great. If you receive honors, you can put that on your résumé, but other than that, you can’t disclose grades. The grading system is the following: top [10 to 20] percent receive a one, middle 80 percent receive a two, and the bottom 10 percent receive a three.” Nice idea! Let us have it here also! “About two-thirds of students live on campus in dorms or apartments. I enjoy the residential aspect of the campus. It does sometimes create a little bit of a bubble from the real world, but the interaction between students is great.” So they also have some resident and some day scholars; though % may vary. “Dorm rooms can be painfully small and outdated but on-campus apartments are a good (if pricey) alternative.” OK, you too! “HBS is run as a business and students are informed that the MBA program is a loss-leader for the separately run executive management programs.” I think HBS learnt this from here! “Shad, the HBS gym, is like a country club facility. It’s only $60 per semester for a student and is well worth the price of admission.” HBS gym is cheaper than ours! “On average, every week there is one CEO from a Fortune 500 who speaks on campus.” We are following up, just remove the F500 criteria.

PGJMC

I just completed my PGJMC course.

Course code: PGJMC
Course name: Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication
Offered by: Ignou (www.ignou.ac.in)
Duration: 1 year
Papers: 4
Work experience: Minimum 2 years in press or media

I did this course out of my extra-curricular interest; though many people initially laughed at the idea. What has journalism got to do with chemical engineering? But I did it; though I took two years instead of one to appear for the exams.

I found the course content satisfactory. The target junta for this course are those already working in the media industry, and haven’t got a formal education in the field of journalism and mass communication. As you can see, there is a mandatory requirement of two years of work-ex. (I managed it J; some things are fair in love, right?)

In case some of you want the study material, and can collect from me in Mumbai, contact me soon. Otherwise I will donate that to the nearest Ignou study centre.

Now I have plans to do at least three more courses:

o A course in disaster management
o MA in English
o MA in Political Science

Can you suggest, from where to do the last two courses? I am already doing MBA, and that is not a joke doing that from here. But I believe I can still manage to do these, if not in 2 years, then in 4. But everything is possible.

'Legal' Quotes - to make this immemorial

As we all know, our Law classes this trimester were happening – in their own sense. I thought to share some ‘dialogues’ from the classes here. The objective is just a few chuckles by recollecting these :)

When I asked whether definition of criminal offense etc in different countries may be different, reply was: “How dare you say that?”

This was when some one asked whether the fixed deadline of 3 months for appeal may be extended: “If you have to marry or your wife is pregnant, you may apply for extension of the period of appeal. The appellate body will study your case and give verdict”.

This one was in the penultimate class, targeted at Rohit: “If you become too bulky, the court may cut you into pieces, and make you slim.”

His favorite: "... No one can poke his nose into the matter or any part of his body...."

(PS: posted in a future date)

Propaganda of Retail

A government ‘study’ has come up, proving that organised big retail is harming the unorganised small retail shops’ business. [Link] This survey (and they call it a study) was started on the directive of UPA chairperson. The survey involved around 1000 small retailers in four Indian cities, including 800 who were within a 2.5 km radius of new organised retailers. The methodology of the survey involved asking small unorganised retailers whether their sales have been affected by the emergence of big retailers or not. The result? 50% of small retailers reported lower sales, and 61% of surveyed retailers pointed to competition from organised retail for their declining financial health.

In my small town, my neighbourhood kirana store gave me some discount even over the maximum retail price (MRP), at lease for some items like Chyavanpras, Horlicks, and some local made products. Here in Mumbai, the neighbour mom-n-pop store takes not a penny less than whatever is printed over the packet, even if the item is an agarbatti. On the other hand, they will keep complaining of the Big Bazars and the big malls. The point is, in absence of an option, I will have to buy from the small shop, at higher price and some times bad service. But if I get an option and go to a Big Bazar or Hyper City, the small store wallahs would complain.

I don’t understand why either the government or the industry should take note of this survey. This is common psychology that a small shop owner would always complain of losses due to the presence of a big retail outlet. If we had to remain small, whole India would remain nothing but a Sabji Mandi! I believe organised retail is a thing whose time has come.

How many small unorganised retailers give you proper receipts and pay income taxes to government? How many of them cover their employees with insurance? How many of them give dignity to the employees they take help of? How many never employ child labour? It is sad that while the governments worldwide would like the unorganised sectors to migrate into organised ones, the politics of numbers would make the governments in India try to keep up the status quo. India should remain a nation of snake charmers, you know. Pappu paas kab hoga?